Those with a weak stomach would be well advised to
steer clear of Guest House Paradiso, the new comedy
from Adrian Edmondson and Rik Mayall who have brought us great British comedies such as The
Young Ones (Although Ben Elton deserves most of the credit for this show) and
Bottom.
The duo bring their Bottom characters, Richie Twat
(it's pronounced Twaite, according to Richie) and Eddie Elizabeth Ndingombaba,
to the big screen complete with enough projectile vomit to drown a small child and plenty
of battering of the "downstairs department" which will have all male viewers
squirming in their chairs.
There is a plot, Richie and Eddie run "the worst
hotel in England", the Guest House Paradiso, that has a nuclear power plant next
door. When the beautiful Italian film star Gina Carbonara arrives
at the hotel to seek refuge from her deranged fiancée, Richie and Eddie do their best to
"show her a good time" in between serving their guest contaminated fish that
leads to the rather messy conclusion.
Unfortunately, the film does not have enough funny
moments carry it over the 85 minute running time. Fans of the television series will
probably find that 25 minutes of Eddie and Richie beating each other senseless is far
preferable to watching them duke it out in a feature length film. Their constant
bickering wears thin very quickly and the fact that the average "fight scene"
seems to go on forever just adds to the frustration.
Edmondson would have been better off not directing the
film (he also wrote it along with Mayall) because a more independent director could
probably have pointed out that the majority of scenes just aren't funny.
The film is at its best in between the ludrious
beginning (where Eddie somehow manages to perform all sorts of bizarre feats on his
motorcycle on his way to the hotel; starting the film with this drawn-out piece of totally
unfunny material was definitely not the best thing to do) and the disgusting finale that
will have you reaching for your own sick bag.
The funniest moments come when Eddie and Richie refrain
from beating up on each other and instead conspire to think up the best ways to rip off
their guests. Mayall and Edmondson certainly have a gift for comedy, if only they
could deliver more of their witty one-liners instead of trying to come up with new ways to
injure each other's character.
The duo has brought us some of the most memorable
comedic characters ever seen in British comedy and have had their many fans in stitches
for the best part of twenty years. Unfortunately, their first major foray into
feature films is a massive disappointment that may cost them a few of those hard-earned
fans.
- Adam Matthews
